The dark triad and counterproductive work behaviours: A multiple mediation analysis

Figures & data

Table 1. Measurement model.

Construct	Indicators	VIF	Loadings	Composite Reliability (CR)	Average variance extracted (AVE)
Psychopathy	Psy1	2.070	0.777	0.882	0.651
	Psy2		0.814
	Psy3		0.815
	Psy4		0.821
Narcissism	Narc1	2.169	0.855	0.841	0.638
	Narc2		0.758
	Narc3		0.780
	Narc4		0.451^a
Machiavellianism	Mach1	2.424	0.812	0.848	0.583
	Mach2		0.751
	Mach3		0.732
	Mach4		0.757
Perceived organisational politics	POPS1	2.554	0.760	0.900	0.644
	POPS2		0.845
	POPS3		0.819
	POPS4		0.816
	POPS5		0.768
	POPS6		0.385^a
Perceived Accountability	PA1	2.000	0.842	0.897	0.743
	PA2		0.852
	PA3		0.892
Counterproductive Work Behaviour	CWB1		0.841	0.936	0.677
	CWB2		0.849
	CWB3		0.829
	CWB4		0.793
	CWB5		0.795
	CWB6		0.793
	CWB7		0.855
	CWB8		0.513^a

Note: All loadings are significant at 0.001 level (2-tailed).

^a The items were removed from the final version of the contract and not used in the structural model.

Source: Authors' own calculation.

Table 2. Measurement model. Discriminant validity.

Fornell-Larcker Criterion							Heterotrait–monotrait ratio (HTMT)
	CWB	Mach	Narc	PA	POPS	Psy	CWB	Mach	Narc	PA	POPS	Psy
CWB	0.823
Mach	0.754	0.764					0.846
Narc	0.724	0.652	0.799				0.794	0.842
PA	−0.739	−0.579	−0.511	0.862			0.844	0.711	0.605
POPS	0.762	0.690	0.588	−0.665	0.802		0.849	0.825	0.693	0.784
Psy	0.722	0.601	0.649	−0.531	0.603	0.807	0.750	0.687	0.715	0.601	0.664

Notes: Psy = Psychopathy; Narc = Narcissism; Mach = Machiavellianism; POPS = Perceived organisational politics; PA = Perceived Accountability, and CWB = Counterproductive work behaviour.

Source: Authors' own calculation.

Table 3. Effects on endogenous variables.

Effects on endogenous variables	Direct effect	t-Value (bootstrap)	Effect size (f2)	Bias Corrected percentile 95% confidence interval	Explained variance
Perceived organisational politics
(R^2 = 0.540/Q^2 = 0.322)
Psychopathy (a1) Narcissism (a2) Machiavellianism (a3)	0.241***	3.774	0.06	[0.138;0.346]	14.53%
	0.133**	2.033	0.02	[0.027;0.241]	7.82%
	0.458***	8.056	0.24	[0.361;0.549]	31.60%
Perceived accountability
(R^2 = 0.396/Q^2 = 0.277)
Psychopathy (a4) Narcissism (a5) Machiavellianism (a6)	−0.236***	3.931	0.05	[-0.335;-0.136]	12.53%
	−0.127**	2.093	0.01	[-0.227;-0.027]	6.49%
	−0.355***	5.535	0.11	[-0.460; −0.246]	20.55%
Counterproductive work behaviour
(R^2 = 0.801/Q^2 = 0.503)
H1-a: Psychopathy (c’1) H1-b: Narcissism (c’2) H1-c: Machiavellianism (c’3) Perceived organisational politics (b1) Perceived Accountability (b2)	0.201***	4.803	0.10	[0.132;0.269]	14.51%
	0.203***	4.675	0.10	[0.134;0.275]	14.70%
	0.206***	3.929	0.09	[0.119;0.292]	15.53%
	0.192***	3.555	0.07	[0.102;0.280]	14.63%
	−0.281***	4.046	0.20	[-0.400;-0.173]	20.77%

Note: **p < .05, ***p < .001, and the two-tailed critical t values at each level of significance for df = 4999 are 1.960 and 3.292 respectively. The values of f² 0.02, 0.15, and 0.35 for weak, moderate, and strong effects.

Source: Authors' own calculation.

Figure 1. Structural model: a multiple mediation model. Source: The Authors.

Table 4. Summary of mediating effect tests.

						Indirect effects
	Total effect		Direct effect					Percentile bootstrap^a95% confidence interval
	Coefficient	t value		Coefficient	t value		Point estimate	Lower	Upper	VAF
Psy on CWB (c1)	0.310***	8.776	H1-a = c’1	0.201***	4.803	Total = a1b1 + a4b2	0.11	0.063	0.171
Narc on CWB (c2)	0.258***	6.446	H1-b = c’2	0.203***	4.675	Total = a2b1 + a5b2	0.06	0.017	0.112
Mach on CWB (c3)	0.416***	8.813	H1-c = c’3	0.206***	3.929	Total = a3b1 + a6b2	0.19	0.125	0.258
						H2 – a = a1b1 (via POPS)	0.04	0.021	0.077	36.4%
						H2 – b = a2b1 (via POPS)	0.02	0.004	0.053	33.3%
						H2 – c = a3b1 (via POPS)	0.09	0.043	0.138	47.4%
						H3 – a = a4b2 (via PA)	0.07	0.029	0.112	63.6%
						H3 – b = a5b2 (via PA)	0.04	0.004	0.075	66.7%
						H3 – c = a6b2 (via PA)	0.10	0.052	0.157	52.6%

Note: ***p < .001, and the two-tailed critical t value at each level of significance for df = 4999 is 3.292. Psy = Psychopathy; Narc = Narcissism; Mach = Machiavellianism; POPS = Perceived organisational politics; PA = Perceived Accountability, and CWB = Counterproductive work behaviour.

Source: Authors' own calculation.

Table 5. Comparison of mediating effects.

		Bootstrap 95% CI
	Coefficient	Percentile	Bias-corrected
Differential effect
M1 – M4 (a1b1 – a4b2)	−0.020	[-0.073;0.021]	[-0.070;0.024]
M2 – M5 (a2b1 – a5b2)	−0.010	[-0.055;0.026]	[-0.053;0.028]
M3 – M6 (a3b1 – a6b2)	−0.012	[-0.088;0.059]	[-0.085;0.063]

Source: Authors' own calculation.